Freshman right wing Anthony Angello has been dominant for the Cornell men’s ice hockey team this season, leading the team in scoring with eight goals. Angello has the ability to electrify the Lynah Faithful with his rare combination of skill and physicality. When Angello scored an overtime game winner against Colgate earlier this season, the crowd erupted and the student section chanted his name. It wasn’t always this way for Angello, who played his first game at Lynah back in high school. “Coming out to play for my first time at Lynah it was about as quiet as it could get for a high school game,” Angello said.

With Ivy League leading scorer Robert Hatter watching from the bench, Cornell dropped its second-straight game to Columbia, this time by a score of 79-68. Without Hatter, it was, once again, freshman guard Matt Morgan who lead the team in scoring, finishing with 26 points. Junior forward David Onuorah was the only other player for Cornell who had double digit points, scoring 10 points and pulling down eight rebounds. The Red fell victim to Columbia’s sharp-shooting giving up 54 percent shooting from beyond the arc. The Lions were 13 of 24 on 3-point field goals, compared with the Red’s fove of 26, all but one of which came from Morgan.

With defensive pressure reminiscent of last year’s defensively dominant squad, the Red cruised to a victory over Lafayette, 85-67. While getting in passing lanes and disrupting Lafayette’s offense, Cornell made sure that every pass for the Leopards was a challenge. The Red forced 20 total turnovers, never letting up from beginning to end. Cornell (5-4) capitalized on Lafayette’s (2-6) errors, scoring 23 points off of turnovers. The victory puts Cornell above .500 going into exam period.

After four straight road games and fighting off injuries, No. 14/15 Cornell men’s hockey (6-1-2, 4-1-1 ECAC) returns to Lynah Rink this weekend for a pair of games against No. 13/13 St. Lawrence (8-3-2, 3-1-1 ECAC) and Clarkson (7-4-2, 0-3-2 ECAC). The Red was able to maintain its success on the road and will look to finish strong against two ECAC opponents before the Christmas break.

Last season, Cornell struggled right out of the gate in conference games. The Red recorded one win, one draw and two losses in its first four contests. As a result, the Lynah Faithful paid little attention to the top of the conference; fans were concerned mostly with the Red’s competition in the middle of the standings. Cornell never seriously recovered or mounted a title challenge, finishing seventh in a disappointing, injury-plagued campaign. Cornell’s bright start this season has revived the habit of the Faithful: assessing other teams who might compete with the Red for the conference’s top few spots.

When Quinnipiac forward Connor Clifton’s point shot deflected into the net in overtime, Cornell players skated off the ice dejectedly. They had just followed up a morale-boosting 4-3 win over Princeton with a 5-4 overtime loss to No. 3 Quinnipiac, in a game that Cornell had twice led by three goals. Throughout the game, Cornell took avoidable penalties, which tilted the momentum back in the Bobcats’ direction. Cornell also conceded eight goals over the weekend, which shows that the defense struggled against conference-level opposition.